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order to swing her yards and fill her sails, while le Feu-Follet was
slipping through the water, going seemingly into the wind's eye. By this
single evolution the lugger gained more than a cable's length on her
enemy, and five minutes more would have put her beyond all immediate
danger. But Captain Cuffe knew this as well as his competitor, and had
made his preparations accordingly. Keeping his head-yards aback, he
knocked his ship round off, until her broadside bore on the lugger, when
he let fly every gun of his starboard batteries, the utmost care having
been taken to make the shot tell. Twenty-two heavy round-shot coming in
at once upon a little craft like le Feu-Follet was a fearful visitation,
and the "boldest held their breath for a time" as the iron whirlwind
whistled past them. Fortunately the lugger was not hulled; but a grave
amount of mischief was done aloft. The jigger-mast was cut in two and
flew upward like a pipe-stem. A serious wound was given to the mainmast
below the hounds, and the yard itself was shivered in the slings. No
less than six shot plunged through both lugs, leaving holes in the
canvas that made it resemble a beggar's shirt, and the jib-stay was cut
in two half-way between the mast-head and the end of the bowsprit. No
one was hurt, and yet for a moment every one looked as if destruction
had suddenly lighted on the lugger. Then it was that Raoul came out in
his true colors. He knew he could not spare a stitch of canvas just at
that moment, but that on the next ten minutes depended everything.
Nothing was taken in, therefore, to secure spars and sails, but all was
left to stand, trusting to the lightness of the breeze, which usually
commenced very moderately. Hands were immediately set to work to get up
a new stay; a new main-yard and sail were got along, and everything was
prepared for hoisting both as soon as it could be ascertained that the
mast would bear them. Nearly similar preparations were made forward as
the shortest way of getting rid of the torn foresail; for that it was
the intention to unbend and bend, the yard being sound.
Luckily, Captain Cuffe determined to lose no more time with his guns,
but swinging his head-yards, the frigate came sweeping up to the wind,
and in three minutes everything was trimmed for the utmost. All this
time le Feu-Follet had not stood still. Her canvas fluttered, but it
held on, and even the spars kept their places, though so much injured.
In a word, the wind was not yet strong enough to tear the one or to
carry away the other. It was an advantage, too, that these casualties,
particularly the loss of her jigger, rendered le Feu-Follet less
weatherly than she would otherwise have been, since, by keeping the
frigate directly in her wake, she was less exposed to the chase-guns
than she would have been a little on either bow. Of this truth Raoul was
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soon persuaded, the Proserpine beginning to work both her bow-guns, as
soon as she came to the wind, though neither exactly bore; the shot of
one ranging a little to windward and the other about as much on the
other side. By these shot, too, the young Frenchman soon had the
satisfaction of seeing that, notwithstanding her injuries, the lugger
was drawing ahead--a fact of which the English became so sensible
themselves that they soon ceased firing.
So far things went better than Raoul had reason at first to hope, though
he well knew that the crisis was yet to come. The westerly wind often
blew fresh at that period of the day, and should it now increase he
would require all his canvas to get clear of a ship with the known
qualities of the vessel in chase. How much longer his mast or his
mainyard would stand he did not know, but as he was fast gaining he
determined to make hay while the sun shone, and get far enough ahead, if
possible, before the breeze grew fresh, to enable him to shift his sails
and fish his spars without being again brought within the reach of
visitors as rude as those who had so lately come hurtling into his thin
hamper. The proper precautions were not neglected in the mean time. Men
were sent aloft to do what they could, under the circumstances, with the
two spars, and the strain was a little relieved by keeping the lugger as
much away as might be done without enabling the frigate to set her
studding-sails.
There is always something so exciting in a chase that seamen never fail
to wish for more wind, forgetful that the power which increases their
own speed may also increase the speed of the other party, and that, too,
in an undue proportion. It would have been more favorable to le
Feu-Follet to have had less wind than even now blew, since her relative
rate of sailing was greater in light than in strong breezes. Raoul knew,
from Ithuel's statements, that the Proserpine was an exceedingly fast
ship, more especially when it blew fresh; and yet it did not appear to
him that his lugger got along with sufficient speed, though his enemy
would be certain to follow at a rate of sailing in a just proportion to
his own, did there come more wind.
The wish of the young privateersman, however, was soon gratified. The
wind freshened materially, and by the time the two vessels opened the
Canal of Corsica, as the passage between that island and Elba is called,
the frigate was obliged to take in her royals and two or three of those
light and lofty staysails which it was then the custom for ships to
carry. At first Raoul had thought he might fetch into Bastia, which lies
due west of the southern end of Elba; but, though the wind drew a little
down through the canal, it soon blew too fresh to allow any formation of
the land materially to alter its current. The zephyr, as the afternoon's
summer breeze of southern Italy, in particular, was termed by the
ancients, is seldom a due west wind, there generally being a little
northing in it, as seamen say; and as one gets further up the coast this
same wind ordinarily comes round the head of Corsica, blowing from
nearly west-northwest. This would have enabled the lugger to lay her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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